


Downs We Go

by BookGirlFan



Series: Children of Watership Down [3]
Category: Watership Down - Richard Adams
Genre: Adventure, Alternate Universe - Human, Friendship, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-21
Updated: 2015-12-20
Packaged: 2018-05-08 02:42:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 17,290
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5480258
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BookGirlFan/pseuds/BookGirlFan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The trip to Watership Down, after escaping Sandleford Orphanage.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

They turned up at the orphanage one night. The older boy stood there, dark eyed and solemn, one arm around his brother, whose big blue eyes were wide and afraid, looking huge in his small face.

"Who are you?"Mrs Sandleford asked, opening the door further so she could get a proper look.

The older boy replied, "I'm Henry Ivers, and this is my brother Felix. Our parents-"

His brother tugged on his coat sleeve, interrupting him. "No, you're Hazel, and I'm Fiver. You never call me Felix, only mummy calls-"Hestopped abruptly and his eyes filled with tears.

Hazel pulled his brother close and hugged him. Looking over Fiver's head, he told Mrs Sandleford quietly, "Ourparents died in a fire two days ago. We were brought here by a lady from the hospital. She said she'd called Mr Sandleford, and he'd said it was okay."

Mrs Sandleford smiled at him, charmed by the picture he and his brother made. "I do remember him mentioning new children, though he could have given me a bit more warning! Never mind, dear, come inside. Do you want something to eat?" she continued as she walked up the hall, the boys following behind, Hazel still with one arm around his brother. "It's past suppertime, but I'm sure I can find something for you to eat. Growing boys need food, after all." She suddenly turned and looked at them with an enquiring expression. "That reminds me, how old are you boys?"

Hazel, caught off guard by the sudden change of topic, took a moment to answer. "I'm eleven, and Fiver is seven."

Fiver tugged Hazel closer and whispered something in his ear. Hazel smiled slightly. "I'll tell her, Fiver." He turned to Mrs Sandleford. "Fiver reminded me, he's seven and a half, not seven. And yes, we are hungry."

"I thought you would be!" Mrs Sandleford said, starting to walk towards the kitchen again. "Come with me, I'll get you something nice to eat."

After they were fed and changed in pyjamas, Ms Sandleford led the way to the boys dormitory. "Now, the other boys are asleep, so mind you don't go waking them up. Just get into bed, and one of the boys can show you around in the morning." With that, she left Hazel and Fiver in the dark room, with the quiet broken only by the sounds of boys snoring and mumbling in their sleep .

"I don't like it here, Hazel," Fiver said, turning over in his bed to face his brother.

"I don't like it either, Fiver, but we'll get used to it." Hazel suddenly frowned, and looked sharply at Fiver. "You didn't - see - anything about it, did you?"

Fiver shuddered. "No, and I never want to see anything like that again!"

"Whatever you saw, it saved our lives, Fiver," Hazel said, sitting up in bed. "If you hadn't seen anything, we wouldn't have gone outside, and we would have died in the fire too."

"At least then we'd be with mummy and daddy," Fiver whispered, his voice quavering.

Hazel sighed, then got out of bed and padded over to his brother. "Can I sleep here tonight?"

Fiver nodded eagerly, waiting for his brother to settle down, then cuddling him close. "Don't go away, Hazel," he murmured, drifting off to sleep. "I want you to stay with me."

"I'm not going anywhere, little brother," Hazel sleepily whispered back. "I'm always going to stay with you. I promise."

"Hey look! New kids!"

Hazel blearily opened his eyes at the sound of shouting. For a moment, he wondered where he was, then he remembered. His parents had died, and he and Fiver were now orphans. Well, that explained the weight pinning down his arm. He turned to see Fiver still asleep, unruly reddish brown hair tickling his arm where it lay.

"Who are you?"

Hazel turned to see the owner of the voice that had woken him up, a sandy haired boy with a beaming smile. "I'm Hazel, this is Fiver. Who are you?"

"I'm Leon, but everyone called me Dandelion," he said, brushing his hair away from his face, then changing his mind and holding it up for Hazel to get a better look. "It's the hair, you know. Bright yellow hair and the name Leon, I wanted to be Lion, king of the jungle, you know, but I ended up as Dandelion." Pushing his hair away from his face again, he continued, "Are your names really Fiver and Hazel?"

Fiver had woken up while Dandelion was talking and now spoke, lifting his head from where it was resting on Hazel's arm. "No, but our other ones are only for when we are in trouble."

"We'll all be in trouble if we wait any longer!" another boy said, coming up behind Dandelion and pulling on his sleeve. "Come on, Dan, or the others will hog all the hot water!"

"I'm coming, Acorn, I just want to talk to the new kids first," Dandelion said, briefly turning to face his friend.

Acorn ran out of the room, calling out behind him, "Your loss!"

"Acorn?" Hazel asked, pushing back the covers and getting out of bed.

"Cause he's a nut who falls out of trees," Dandelion said cheerfully. "He's right, though. The other boys will use up all the hot water if we take too long, so grab your clothes and I'll show you the way to the bathrooms."

Hazel and Fiver quickly did as he said and before long were washed up and seated at the long table in the dining room, each with a bowl of grey, soupy porridge in front of them. "Are you sure you don't have any bad feelings about this place?" Hazel whispered to his brother. "This porridge is certainly giving me a bad feeling."

Fiver gave him a tiny smile, replying, "I don't have any bad feelings about this place, but the porridge looks gross."

"No bad feelings, so it probably isn't poisonous," Hazel mused. He shrugged and picked up his spoon. "Here goes!"

As soon as the spoon was in his mouth, he pretended to gag, making faces while wiping at his tounge. It didn't really taste that bad, but Fiver giggled, so he considered it worthwhile. "There. I've had my turn, so now it's yours, little brother. Come on, eat up!"

Fiver, still giggling, raised a spoonful of porridge to his mouth and ate it, then made a face of his own. They finished the meal that way, with every bite competing for who could make the most disgusted face.

Dandelion watched them from across the table, looking amused. "The food's always awful here. There's too many kids, not enough money. And no one ever wants to adopt us either. They only want the little kids." He gestured to Fiver. "You'd probably get adopted."

Fiver looked at Hazel, his smile disappearing to be replaced by a look of terror. Hazel slipped an arm around him, and frowned at Dandelion. "We stay together. Fiver's not going to go off with someone else without me."

Dandelion shrugged. "Okay then." He pushed his chair away from the table and stood up gathering up his bowl and cutlery. "Come on, there's chores to do."


	2. Chapter 2

Dandelion led the way outside, explaining, "We do all the work around the place. Boys do the outside work, girls do the inside. There aren't many girls here, but Mrs Sandleford helps, so they get it all done. Mr Sandleford is always up in his office, so he puts some of the older boys in charge of us. Usually it's Holly," pointing out a boy in his late teens walking around, "but sometimes it's one of the others, like Bigwig or Toadflax. There's a whole group of them, the Owsla. Maybe-" Dandelion was cut off by the teenage boy, Holly, coming over to them.

"Stop chatting, Dandelion, and get to work. I'll look after the new kids," Holly looked the two of them up and down. "Hazel and Fiver, isn't it?"

They nodded, Fiver surreptitiously moving a little closer to his brother.

"You two seemed to be getting on well with Dandelion, so you can work with him on the weeding, for now at least. Who knows," he continued, looking approvingly at Hazel. "Maybe when you're a bit older, and if you behave yourself, you'll be part of the Owsla one day."

Hazel nodded at Holly, then he and Fiver quickly moved off to crouch beside Dandelion and Acorn and weed. "So now you've met Holly," Acorn said, digging at a particularly stubborn weed. "He's a stickler for the rules, and does anything Sandleford tells him to. A pleasure, really."

Dandelion shoved him playfully, tumbling him to the ground. "Holly's not all bad. He doesn't let anyone get away with bullying-"

"Unless they're in his Owsla," Acorn muttered, brushing off dirt.

"-and he doesn't try and steal things off the younger kids, like some of the older boys do."

"Yeah, like Toadflax. No idea how he got into the Owsla, but I wish he hadn't."

"Is it hard, then? Getting into the Owsla?" Hazel interrupted, pulling up another weed.

Dandelion and Acorn stopped digging and looked at him. "Why, are you interested?"

Acorn looked at him critically. "Mostly the Owsla's just for the bigger kids, the ones who are tough enough to make the others behave. It's not that rare to get in, but you're nowhere near big enough yet."

"See over there?" Dandelion chimed in, pointing to a tall boy with pale blond hair holding a paintbrush. "That's Silver. He's the kind of boy that gets in the Owsla. He's big enough for it."

"That's not the only reason though." Acorn resumed pulling on the stubborn weed. "Everyone knows the real reason he's on the Owsla is because his mother was an old school friend of Mr Sandleford, and she made him promise to look after her darling son."

"Careful, Acorn," Fiver said suddenly.

"Wha-"Acorn was turning to look at him when the root finally gave up the battle and released, sending Acorn toppling backwards into the dirt.

The rest of the morning was taken up with chores, then after lunch was free time. Hazel and Fiver went with Dandelion and Acorn outside to the veggie patch, where a big tree overhung it, its branches low to the ground and easy to climb. A dark skinned boy with curly black hair was sitting on one of the lower branches, reading a book. He looked up at they approached. "Who are the new kids, Dan?"

"That's Hazel, and his brother Fiver," Dandelion told him, nodding his head at them as he named them."They got here last night." He sat down on the tree branch beside the boy, jerking his thumb at him. "This is Blackberry. He's been here forever, and knows everything about this place, and everything else."

"I don't know everything!" Blackberry protested. "I just get curious about things, so I look them up."

Acorn grinned at him, then turned to Hazel and Fiver, mock-whispering, "Don't listen to him. He does know everything." Turning back to the tree, he took a running leap and grabbed hold of one of the higher branches, then pulled himself further up into the tree. He kept climbing higher, until soon he was nearly hidden by the branches.

All of a sudden, Fiver moaned, then darted out from behind Hazel, yelling, "Dandelion, Blackberry, move!" He grabbed their arms and started pulling, but both boys just gave him quizzical looks. Desperately, Fiver turned to Hazel, still trying to pull the boys away. "Hazel, help me! They need to move!"

Hazel, unsure what Fiver was doing, but trusting his brother had a good reason, started pulling Dandelion and Blackberry off the branch and away from the tree. "Come on, you've got to move!"

"Why?"Dandelion asked, trying to keep his balance despite the pull from Hazel and Fiver.

"I don't know, but if Fiver says you need to move, you need to move. Just buck up, would you, and get away!"

Finally, both boys were off the branch, and standing a distance away, waiting for something to happen. When nothing did, they turned to face Hasel and Fiver. "What was that all about?" Blackberry asked.

"Yeah, you made it sound like we urgently needed to-" Dandelion was cut off by a great creaking sound that made them all look back at the tree, followed by a sudden thump as a thick branch fell from above, landing squarely on the branch Dandelion and Blackberry has just been sitting on, crushing it. Sudden silence fell, then excited chattering, as the boys who had been attracted by Fiver's shouting talked about what they had just seen.

Acorn came scurrying down the tree and over of his friends, looking shaken. "What just happened?"

Dandelion and Blackberry turned to look at Fiver. "Fiver just saved our lives," Blackberry said, his voice full of awe, as well as some fear over how close that had been. "How did you know, Fiver?"

"I didn't." Fiver shrugged, looking uncomfortable. "I just knew you needed to move."

"Yes, but how did you know that?"

"I don't know, I just do," Fiver looked pleadingly up at his brother, who put an arm around his shoulders.

"Fiver sees things sometimes, things that haven't happened yet." Hazel looked sternly at them. "Don't tease him about it."

All three gaped at him. "Tease him?" Blackberry said in astonishment. "I think it's brilliant!"The other two nodded eagerly. Fiver giggled, half nervous, half pleased at the attention. Hazel looked at his brother proudly. Maybe this place would be alright after all.


	3. Chapter 3

Four uneventful months passed, then one night Hazel was woken by Fiver tossing and turning in his sleep. "No, no! Run, Hazel, run!" Fiver muttered.

Hazel quickly got out of bed and over to his brother. "I'm alright, Fiver. Wake up! Wake up, Fiver, everything is fine!" He shook his brother lightly, trying to wake him.

Fiver suddenly shot bolt upright, screaming, "No!"

"What happened?"

"What was that?"

"Did someone die?"

All around them boys were starting to stir, woken by Fiver's dream. Then one of them caught sight of Fiver, and said, "Oh, it's just that weird kid."

"That all?"said another.

"Tell him not to shout so loud next time, some of us are trying to sleep."

"Save your visions for daylight, would you? We don't want to hear it."

Gradually the boys all went back to sleep. Dandelion and Acorn looked over at Hazel, silently asking if they could help, but when he shook his head at them, they settled down to sleep as well.

Hazel held his trembling brother, who hadn't spoken a word since he had woken up. When Fiver had stopped trembling so badly, Hazel asked quietly, "Are you alright, Fiver?"

Fiver shook his head.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

He shook his head again, and clutched Hazel tighter.

"You're safe now. You know that, don't you?" Hazel asked, looking down at his little brother's head.

Fiver hesitated, then nodded his head. His grip on Hazel didn't loosen.

Hazel sighed. "Squish over. I'm getting in."

Fiver let go just long enough for Hazel to get into the bed, then gripped his brother tightly again. Hazel rubbed his back, whispering reassurances. Gradually, Fiver slipped into sleep. Hazel stayed awake just long enough to remind himself to talk to Fiver about his dream in the morning, then fell asleep himself.

The next morning, Hazel pulled Fiver aside after breakfast. "Fiver, can you talk about your dream now?"

Fiver nodded, then took a deep breath, and shakily released it. "It wasn't just a dream. It was a dream like I had on that night, a dream of the future. It was about here, Sandleford Orphanage. Something is going to happen here, something bad. We have to leave, now, before it's too late."

Hazel drew back. "Leave? Fiver, we can't leave. Where would we go? We're just kids!"

"But Hazel, we have to leave!" Fiver grabbed on to his brother's arm. "We have to leave, now! Something bad is going to happen, something terrible, and we're all going to die! We have to leave, get out of here, with as many as will come with us!"

Seeing his brother's expression, Hazel relented. "Alright. You've never been wrong before, so I'll trust you now." Seeing that Fiver had calmed down, he continued, "Do you know what is going to happen, or when?"

Fiver shook his head. "Just that something terrible is going to happen, soon. We need to leave as soon as we can."

"Alright." Hazel ran his hands through his hair, trying to decide what to do. He trusted Fiver's visions. If he said something was going to happen it was. The question was, what should he do about it? He was just a kid, how could he get an entire orphanage to evacuate? That gave him an idea. "Fiver, do you think Mr Sandleford could help?"

"I don't know. I just know we need to leave, as soon as we can."

"Well, the best way to do that is to tell Mr Sandleford. Maybe then he will tell everyone else, and we can all escape." Even as Hazel said it, he knew how unlikely it was. Still, he had to try.

"Okay, Hazel." Fiver looked trustingly up at his brother."Should we go see him now?"

"Yeah, okay. We've got to be quick though, before we have to go to chores."

The brothers made their way upstairs, through the shadowed halls, to Mr Sandleford's office. Outside his office, Hazel was about to knock, when he was stopped by a hand on his arm. Turning sharply, Hazel saw a burly teenager with his hair standing straight up. "Hi, Bigwig. We need to talk to Mr Sandleford."

"He's busy now, you'll have to talk to him later." Bigwig scowled at them. All the Owsla took turns standing at Mr Sandleford's door to make sure he wouldn't be disturbed, and it didn't look like Bigwig appreciated them coming on his watch.

"It's really important, Bigwig. You know I wouldn't come if it wasn't," Hazel said firmly. He kept an arm around Fiver, wanting him to stay close by. The delay had made him start to look nervous again, and Hazel didn't want him to try running off on his own.

Bigwig's scowl relaxed a bit. "I know, Hazel. I'll check if he can talk, but Mr Sandleford is really busy. He can't just be disturbed by anyone who comes along." With one final look at Hazel's steadfast expression, he opened the door and slipped inside, leaving the door open just a crack. From inside, Hazel and Fiver could hear snippets of conversation.

"-came to talk - important -"

"-busy -"

"-Hazel - brother - sees things"

"-talk - get them-"

Bigwig came to the door and opened it fully. "He'll see you."

Hazel and Fiver came inside and stood in front of Mr Sandleford's big desk. Bigwig came in behind them and stood at the door.

"Sit down, sit down," Mr Sandleford said, gesturing at the chairs in front of his desk.

They sat down.

"You're Olive?"

"Hazel."

"Yes, and your friend-"

"Brother."

Mr Sandleford fixed him with an look, then said, "Now, what did you want to talk to me about?"

Hazel resisted the urge to squirm. "My brother, Fiver, he saw something terrible happening."

"Did he? Does he need to talk to the police?"

"No, he didn't see it like that, he saw it in a dream."

"A dream?" Mr Sandleford leant back in his chair. "Boys, I'm not sure what you expect me to do here. I'm afraid that I can't keep away your nightmares, as much as I might like to be able to."

"No, that's not what I meant." Hazel paused for a moment, trying to find a way to explain. "My brother has dreams of the future. He dreamt that something bad was about to happen here, to Sandleford Orphanage."

"And what would you like me to do about that?"

"Well, we were thinking you could get everyone to evacuate."

"Ah." Mr Sandleford steepled his hands in front of him. "Well boys, I'm sure that you feel you have here a very compelling reason to evacuate, but I'm afraid I'm not sure it would be worth the time and cost needed. Perhaps this was just a bad dream, and not a vision of the future? At any rate, I'm afraid I can't spare any more time for you right now. How about you get back to your chores, and if this is still bothering you in a few days, come talk to me again then. Bigwig, perhaps you could stay behind for a few moments. Boys, you can go."

Hazel stood up, disappointed. "Yes, Mr Sandleford. We're sorry for wasting your time." He walked out of the room, Fiver in tow.

As soon as the door was shut, Fiver burst out, "But we don't have a few days, Hazel! We need to leave now!"

"We can't leave right now, Fiver," Hazel told his brother. "Don't you think they'll notice the two of us walking off like that? And you said we should bring others with us as well. We can leave tonight, but no sooner."

Fiver nodded, calmer, but still tense. "Okay, and then we'll be gone? Away?"

"Yes, we'll be away."

The door opened and Bigwig came out, shaking his head. Catching sight of Hazl and Fiver still standing in the hallway, he asked, "Hazel, is Fiver really that sure we need to leave?"

Hazel nodded. "Yes, he wants us to leave as soon as possible."

"Well, then count me in,"Bigwig said grimly. "If he says it, I believe him. Besides, there's no point staying here anymore."

"Why not?" Hazel asked. "Won't the Owsla need you?"

"As of right now, I'm no longer an Owsla member." For a moment Bigwig looked crushed, then he rallied. "I quit after hearing what he said to you. Besides, it will be an adventure." He looked straight at Fiver. "I remember what happened with the tree. If you could see that, I believe you could see whatever is going to happen."

"This place is dangerous," Fiver said quietly. "Anyone who leaves will be safer."

Hazel smiled. "Then we'll gather as many as we can. Bigwig, can you ask the older kids, see who might come? Fiver and I will ask as many as we can of the rest. Just don't let Holly or the Sandlefords find out, or they'll try and stop us."

Bigwig nodded. "Right. When are we going to leave?"

"How about ten tonight?" Hazel suggested. "An hour after lights out, no one should be awake."

"Alright. See you then."

Hazel and Fiver waved goodbye as they made their way outside to start their chores. Fiver seemed a bit calmer, now that they were definitely going to leave. "Who else will come?"he asked.

"Dandelion, Acorn and Blackberry probably would. I don't know who else. Any ideas?"

"I think Pipkin might." Hazel looked at his brother quizzically. Seeing the look, Fiver explained, "He hasn't been here very long, even less than us, and the other kids tease him for being so small."

"Okay, then we'll ask him too." Hazel frowned worriedly. "I hope Bigwig doesn't try asking any Owsla. They might be his friends, but I don't think they'll want to leave, and they'd probably tell Holly our plans. If Holly finds out, we'll all be in trouble."


	4. Chapter 4

That night at ten, Hazel and Fiver were waiting outside their dorm. Acorn and Dandelion slipped through the door to meet them, and before long, Pipkin showed up as well, nearly squeaking with anticipation. "Are we ready to go?" he asked, breathless with excitement.

"Not yet," Hazel told him. "We're still waiting for Blackberry and Bigwig."

"Oh," Pipkin deflated for a moment, then perked up again. "Will they be here soon?"

"Here's Bigwig now!" Dandelion squinted into the gloom of the hall. "Not sure who he has with him."

"Silver," Bigwig replied, catching the end of Dandelion's comment. "I was asking a few of the others, but then Holly came sniffing around before I could give them any details."

"It's getting late, surely we should start soon?" Acorn said, looking around nervously. "We wait here much longer, and someone's going to notice!"

"No one's awake! Who would notice?" Bigwig replied scornfully.

"Look, there's Blackberry now," Hazel said, eager to defuse the brewing argument. "We can start heading outside now." He started walking, heading down the stairs to the outside. With nothing but open ground between them and the forest that edged the property, it wouldn't take long before they could be safely out of sight.

"What took you so long?" He heard Dandelion whisper to Blackberry as he caught up.

"Thistle kept tossing," Blackberry replied, equally quietly.

Silently, they left the house and were nearly at the veggie patch when a voice called out from behind them. "Stop!"

They turned as one, to see Holly standing there, flanked by two Owsla members, arms crossed. "What do you think you are doing, being outside at this time of night?"

"We're leaving." Fiver said solemnly. "We needed to leave, so we are."

"Just let us leave, Holly," Hazel said, stepping forward. "Something terrible is going to happen, and we don't want to be here when it does."

Holly shook his head. "I can't let you just run away. It's my job to look after you, all of you. Please, let's do this peacefully. Just to back to your beds, and we can forget about it."

Bigwig snorted, gesturing to the boys on either side of Holly."Toadflax and Thorn don't seem to agree."Toadflax growled at him, fists clenching at his sides.

"We're leaving, Holly," Hazel continued, "whether you like it or not."

"No, you're not." Holly came closer, but as he did, Bigwig plowed into him, nearly knocking him over.

"Run!" Bigwig yelled, wrestling with Holly. "Silver and I will hold them off!"

Hazel led the way as they ran for the forest, leaving Silver and Bigwig behind to fight off Holly, Toadflax and Thorn. Once they reached the edge of the forest, they stopped, looking vainly into the blackness for a glimpse of their companions. A shape suddenly looming out of the darkness out them all on guard, until it revealed itself to be Bigwig and Silver, the latter clutching his arm. "Toadflax bit me," Silver explained, seeing their curious looks.

"We delayed them, but not for long," Bigwig said, looking grim. "They've gone back to wake up Mr Sandleford. He'll call the police, and before long, they'll be out here looking for us, probably with dogs." He turned to Hazel. "If we're going to go, we need to go now."

Hazel nodded. "Okay, let's go. Keep together so no one gets lost. We need to get as far as we can before the police show up."

The rest of the group nodded, then they all started running. They made it a fair way into the forest before they started to slow down, then came to a stop. "Have we gone far enough?" Acorn asked, panting.

Bigwig shook his head, hunched over, hands on his knees. "The dogs can still track us, and they run fast. We've got to keep going." He straightened up. "Come on, we've got to start again."

With some grumbling, they all started running again, this time slightly slower than before. They ran through the forest, listening out for the sound of dogs behind them, with quick glances behind to see who might be following. Then the forest cut away to show a steep bank leading down to a river, the water glinting in the moonlight. The boys came to a stop.

Dandelion peered over the edge. "How will we cross that?"

"It doesn't look very fast,"Blackberry said, joining him. "Maybe we could swim it?"

"If you want to go swimming, go ahead." Acorn crossed his arms. "I certainly don't want to be swimming across a river, in the dark, with dogs chasing us. Count me out."

"I'm not so keen on it either, but it would throw the dogs off our scent." Bigwig looked up and down the bank. "It doesn't look like there's a bridge anywhere across here, though with all these trees it's hard to tell." He turned to Hazel. "What are we going to do?"

Hazel thought for a moment, then gave a quick nod. "We don't know if there is a bridge, or how long it might take to find it, so we'll have to swim. Silver, you go first, the rest of us will follow." Silver nodded, then waded into the water and started swimming. Hazel felt a tug on his sleeve, and looked down to see Pipkin looking up at him. "What's wrong, Pipkin?"

Pipkin bit his lip. "I can't swim, Hazel."

"I don't think I can either," Fiver said from behind them. "I'm too tired."

Hazel sighed. "Alright, we'll have to think of another way for you to cross."

"What about this?" Blackberry called. He pushed at a log that was half floating in the water. "If we get it all the way in the water, Fiver and Pipkin can hold onto it, and we can push them across."

"Good idea, Blackberry!" Hazel and Bigwig came over to help Blackberry push the log further into the water.

A howl from somewhere behind them made Pipkin look around. "The dogs are coming!" he cried fearfully.

Blackberry, Hazel and Bigwig pushed harder, groaning at the exertion. Finally, the log was fully floating in the water. "Come on, get on the log!" Bigwig shouted. Fiver and Pipkin hurried over, and held onto the log, while Hazel and Bigwig pushed at it, Blackberry following behind. Once the water was deep enough, they started swimming, kicking their legs while still desperately trying to keep hold of the log.

Finally, the log hit the other bank, and Pipkin and Fiver let go, all four of them wading through the water to the shore. Once on the shore, they collapsed to the ground, only to be pulled up again by Silver. "The dogs are still after us," he said apologetically. Tiredly, they nodded, and all eight boys continued on their journey again.


	5. Chapter 5

Now that the police were safely on the other side of the river, they slowed down. The running, followed by the swim in the river, had left them all exhausted. They walked on and on, the stars twinkling above them, the moon beaming down, lighting the way with an eerie glow.

"How much," panted Acorn, "further?"

"I can't!" Pipkin stopped, falling to the ground. "I'm tired, and my foot hurts! I can't go any further!"

The rest of the group all stopped and gathered around. "We have to keep going," Hazel said. "We have to outrun the police. We aren't safe yet."

"I can't run any further!" Pipkin sobbed. "I'm sorry, Hazel."

Hazel knelt down beside him. "You can do it, Pipkin. It can't be much further. At dawn we can stop, take a break. See, the sky is getting lighter already. Can you make it that long?"

Pipkin slowly stood up, wiping his nose with the back of his hand. "Okay, Hazel. I can make it that long. But then we can rest, can't we?"

Hazel smiled tiredly at him. "Yes, Pipkin. We'll rest then."

They began to walk again, even slower than before. The early morning mist shrouded their way, sending them stumbling when a branch or rock caught under their feet. Hazel stayed beside Pipkin, encouraging him. "It won't be much longer, Pipkin. You can do it."

Pipkin only panted in reply, too exhausted and out of breath to speak.

For two achingly long hours, they kept walking, their pace slowing and slowing, but never daring to stop completely. "Just until dawn," Hazel muttered hoarsely. "We'll rest at dawn." By now, the words were as much an encouragement to him as to Pipkin.

Finally. dawn rose. As the first rays of sunlight hit the tree tops, the boys all flopped to the ground, unable to go any further. They lay there for a few minutes, then Bigwig heaved himself to his feet. "We can't stay here. Too exposed."

"No, not more walking! I'm exhausted," Acorn said, lying on the ground with his eyes closed.

Reluctantly, Hazel stood up as well. "He's right. We're in an open field, and the police might still be after us. We can't stop yet."

Groaning and moaning, the boys got to their feet yet again, Pipkin limping a little. Hazel looked at him worriedly. If that was anything more than a thorn in his foot, that was going to be serious trouble.

For the first time, Hazel realised what they had left behind when they left Sandleford. In the rush of Fiver's vision and their subsequent departure, he hadn't thought about what trouble they could find out here by themselves. They didn't have any food or water, or a place to stay. If they were injured, they didn't have a doctor they could go to. They were all on their own.

These realisations came crashing over Hazel like a wave, leaving him stunned. He shook his head to clear it, then noticed all of them staring at him. "What's wrong?"

"Are you okay?" Blackberry asked, looking concerned.

Hazel nodded. "I'm fine. Let's get going." He started walking. The others followed, exchanging questioning glances.

Fortunately for everyone, they were only walking for a few minutes when they heard the soft sound of running water. They started heading in that direction, and soon found a cluster of tall weeds, with a shallow stream of water rushing out of the middle. They pushed their way through the weeds, looking for the source of the water, and found that the weeds were hiding a patch of clear ground, just big enough for them all to sit down and rest.

"We'll be safe here, won't we, Bigwig?"Hazel asked.

Bigwig looked around, nodding. "Nobody could see us in here, and even if they could, we'd notice them coming through the bushes. We can rest here."

"Finally!" Acorn collapsed to the ground. "We've been walking all night!"

"We know, Acorn, we were there." Dandelion fell to the ground beside him, balling up his jacket and using it as a pillow.

Blackberry sat beside the stream, cupping the water in his hands and drinking. "Oh, that is good. It's even cold!"

"Don't get too comfortable yet," Bigwig told them. "This place is pretty safe, but if someone does come looking for us, we want to know about it. We need to stay on watch."

"I'll do it," Silver volunteered. They all looked at him, surprised to hear him speak. He noticed their looks and flushed slightly, but continued. "You had to push Fiver and Pipkin across the stream. I can take first watch."

Bigwig hesitated, then nodded reluctantly. "Fine, but I take second watch."

"And what about your shoulder, Silver?" Dandelion piped up, getting up on his elbows. "Surely Toadflax biting you is about the same as an animal bite? You might get rabies."

Silver gave a small smile. "It's okay. It didn't bleed much, and I'm pretty sure Toadflax doesn't have rabies."

"You never know," Dandelion rejoined, lying back down. "Maybe it's a special brand of rabies, only catchable by quiet people."

"You're safe then," Acorn snarked in response. Dandelion laughed.

Hazel sat down beside Pipkin. "Pipkin, is your foot still sore?"

Pipkin nodded glumly. "It hurts. I think a thorn got stuck in my shoe."

"Take your shoe off, let's see if you really do have a thorn in there."

Pipkin took off his shoe to show that, yes, it really was a thorn, gone through his shoe and into his foot. Hazel managed to pull it out, then wetted the sleeve of his jacket and held it to Pipkin's foot, where a spot of blood was starting to grow. "We don't have anything to clean it with, so this will have to do." He held it there for a moment longer, then pulled it away. "It looks like its stopped bleeding. You can probably go get some sleep now."

Pipkin nodded and settled down, curling up in the warm grass and quickly falling asleep.

Hazel lay his jacket out on the ground to dry, then sat beside it, watching over the others. It all looked so peaceful, he reflected. Looking at them, you'd think they were on holiday, not on the run from some unknown danger.

He felt Fiver come and sit down beside him. "Shouldn't you be sleeping?" he asked, not turning around. "We have been walking all night."

"I'm 'kay," Fiver said.

Hazel turned around and looked at his brother, raising an eyebrow at his drooping eyes and hastily concealed yawn. "Really? You aren't tired at all?"

Fiver ducked his head. "Maybe a little."

Hazel sighed. "Fiver, go to sleep. You need to rest. We're going to have to be walking again soon."

Fiver's head came up and he stared defiantly at his brother. "You need rest too, Hazel. You pushed Pipkin an'me across the stream-"

"Bigwig did-" Hazel tried to interject.

"-and you've been walking all night with the rest of us," Fiver ploughed on, ignoring his brother's interruption. "You need to sleep too, and I'm not sleeping 'til you do."

Hazel shook his head, smiling at his little brother. "Okay, I'll sleep too." Seeing his brother's 'go ahead' look, he rolled his eyes, lay down on the ground, and looked up at his brother. "See? I'm going to sleep. Now, your turn."

Fiver gave a little nod of approval then curled up beside his brother. "We need you, Hazel," he said, yawning and closing his eyes. "Don't forget that."

Hazel looked at his sleeping brother, thinking of the boys surrounding them, boys who had come with them on this journey based on nothing more than his brother's say so, boys who were relying on him to take charge and look after them, to get them safely to wherever they were going. "I know, Fiver," he whispered. "I know."


	6. Chapter 6

Hours later, Hazel woke up, sitting up and blearily rubbing his eyes. Fiver was still curled up beside him asleep, and most of the other boys were asleep as well. At some point while Hazel slept, the guard had swapped, and now Bigwig looked over at him. "You can go back to sleep, you know. Everyone else is."

Hazel shook his head. "I'm awake now. Might as well stay that way."

Bigwig looked at him sceptically, then appeared to let it go, resuming scanning the bushes for suspicious activity. "Has Fiver had any more visions?" he asked, not turning to look at Hazel.

"No, not that I know of. Why?"

"Just wondering."

Hazel looked at him with suspicion. "Wondering what?"

Bigwig sighed, turning to face Hazel with a frown. "We did just leave our home, you know. We have no food, no shelter, and no idea where we are going, unless Fiver knows. So does he know?"

Hazel ran a hand through his hair, thinking. "I don't know, and if he does, he hasn't told me."

Bigwig's frown deepened. "Well, then you'd better get him to tell you, before we all starve!" With that, he turned away, and went back to scanning the horizon.

Hazel sighed, then looked down at his brother. He was surprised to see Fiver looking up at him, smiling peacefully. "I saw it," he murmured.

"Saw what?"

"I saw it." Seeing that Hazel still looked confused, he elaborated, "In my dream, I saw the place we are meant to go. A house, high on a lonely hilltop, where we'll be safe."

"Are you sure, Fiver?" Hazel asked. This seemed too good to be true.

Fiver looked at him innocently. "Oh, yes. We'll be safe there."

"Well, okay then," Hazel said, putting faith in his brother."At least now we know we are heading for somewhere."

Fiver grinned at him. "You'll like it there, Hazel. We all will."

Hazel smiled back. "I'm sure we will." Just for a moment, he let himself relax, and not worry about all the hardships that were sure to come before they could reach this place in Fiver's dreams.

Once everyone was awake and ready to start again, sometime around mid-afternoon, Hazel told them about Fiver's vision. "We'll be safe there, with nothing for us to worry about," he finished.

"That's great and all, but what about direction?" Bigwig interjected. "'A safe house on a hill doesn't quite match up to a map."

"I know it's west, and we can make it there," Fiver said, eyes closed but voice filled with conviction. "It's somewhere we can be safe, and happy."

Acorn looked sceptical. "West? That's all we've got to go on?"

Fiver opened his eyes. "I can see it, but I don't know the way. I just know it's west."

Acorn looked ready to keep pressing, but Hazel broke in. "If he said that's all he knows, that's all he knows, Acorn. Leave him alone."

"Well, at least west gives us a direction," Bigwig said. "We can head west, look for a place. I'm not sure I believe in this happy house of Fiver's, but there's got to be somewhere we can stay."

Hazel looked around the group. "Everyone happy with that?" They all nodded or made other gestures of agreement. "Right then, we'll get going."

They set off again. By nightfall, they still hadn't come across anywhere they could stay, or anywhere they could get food. Acorn found a few edible berries along the trail, but not enough to satisfy the boys' hunger. As they walked, their stomachs got louder, reminding all the boys just how long it had been since they had eaten.

"I'm hungry!" Dandelion moaned.

Blackberry nodded agreement. "We haven't had anything but a handful of berries since we left Sandleford, and that was nearly a whole day ago!"

"We need food!" Acorn chimed in, arms clutching his gurgling stomach.

Hazel continued walking, doing his best to ignore the sounds coming from his own stomach. No matter how much he wanted to, there was nothing he could do about their lack of food. A small sound at his side made him look down, to see Pipkin looking imploringly at him.

"Hazel, can't you get us something to eat?" Pipkin asked.

Hazel started to shake his head, when he saw a house off in the distance. "Maybe, Pipkin." Raising his voice so the others could hear him, he called, "I can see a house! Maybe they'll have food!"

A cheer went up. "Food!" Their pace picked up, all the boys eager to finally get something to eat. As they got closer to the building, they saw it wasn't just a house, but rather a large manor. For a moment, Hazel wondered why anyone would choose to have a large manor in the middle of nowhere, but then he dismissed it as unimportant to their quest for food.

At their increased speed, it wasn't long before they reached the door. For all their hunger, none of them quite wanted to press the doorbell. After a moment's debate, Hazel was elected to do it, so he summoned up his courage and pressed the button.


	7. Chapter 7

They heard the bell echoing throughout the house, followed by the sound of footsteps up the hall. The door opened wide, and a man came out. Well, not quite a man. He certainly had the height of a man, but the face was that of a teenage boy, and covered in acne. From behind him came the delicious smell of hot pizza. "Hello," the boy said, seemingly unbothered.

"Uh, hello," Hazel said, slightly confused by the boy's lack of reaction. "We saw the lights on and were wondering if you might possibly have any food for us. We've traveled a long way, and are very hungry."

"Of course! Come on in, all travelers are welcome here. My name is Calvin, but you may call me Cowslip." Suddenly the boy seemed much more jovial, opening the door wider and gesturing them inside. Seeing them hesitate, he smiled, then said, "I'll just go inside, you can come in when you're ready."

"Are we sure this is a good idea?" Hazel asked the others once Cowslip was out of hearing range.

Acorn looked at him like he'd gone mad. "Can't you smell the food in there? This boy is offering us free food, and you want to say no?"

"Free food does seem kind of suspicious," Blackberry said, chewing on his lip thoughtfully.

"Maybe he's just really nice like that?"Pipkin looked hopeful.

Bigwig rolled his eyes. "Look, there are eight of us. I think that's enough to ward off whatever attack you think this guy has planned. For now, though, I'm hungry, and I want to eat, so let's just go in there, eat the pizza, and worry later."

Acorn and Dandelion nodded in agreement.

"Okay, I'm hungry too," Hazel admitted. "Let's go inside, but try and stick together, could you? There maybe be eight of us, but that won't do us any good if we are all spread out over the place."

Bigwig snorted. "Course, Hazel. We aren't idiots. Now come on boys, let's get some food!"

The boys hastened inside, led by Bigwig, leaving only Fiver and Hazel still standing in the doorway. "I'm not sure I like it here, Hazel." Fiver huddled close to his brother.

Hazel wrapped an arm around him. "I'm sorry Fiver, but we really do need to eat. Did you see something about this place, or have a feeling about it?"

"No, I haven't seen or felt anything, I just - don't like it here very much."

Hazel shrugged. "Maybe it will go away. Come on, you might feel better when you've had something to eat."He went inside, and Fiver reluctantly followed.

Inside, the manor was enormous. The first room was a giant ballroom, with the opposite end split in two by a marble staircase, and a balcony going around the upper level, with many rooms leading off it. Behind the ballroom, on the other side of the marble staircase, was where the delicious smells had been coming from. Hazel and Fiver walked in to see the rest of their group already there, along with about twenty other kids, all enjoying their pizza. On a table at one end of the room were at least twenty pizza boxes, all open, and with varying amounts of pizza left.

Spotting them at the door, Bigwig called out, "Have some pizza, guys! There's plenty here for everyone!"

"Very true." Cowslip suddenly appeared from behind them. "There is enough pizza for everyone, as well as cake afterwards if you are still hungry. We always have plenty left over, so it's good that for once the food need not go to waste."

Hazel and Fiver cautiously stepped away from Cowslip, and sat with their friends at one of the tables. Hazel leant forward and whispered, "Are you all okay? Nothing seems weird about the pizza?"

"You worry too much, Hazel!" Bigwig grinned at him. "We're all fine, and the pizza's delicious! Try some!" He gestured over to the table with the pizza boxes, then went back to enjoying his slice with gusto.

Hazel went over the to the pizza boxes, Fiver still staying close beside him, and picked up a piece. Hesitantly, he took a bite, and discovered that yes, the pizza was delicious! As far as he could tell, nothing was wrong with it, so after waiting a few more seconds to see if anything would happen, he shrugged, and took another bite.

Noticing Fiver hadn't taken any, he swallowed, then said, "It's okay, Fiver. The pizza is fine."

Fiver shook his head."I don't like this place, Hazel. It still feels strange, like a net, closing in on us. Please, can we go?"

"Fiver, we can't. We still need to eat. We can't go on without food." Picking up another piece of pizza, he gave it to Fiver. "Look, eat now, and if you still feel bad after, we can leave. At least we will have eaten something."

"Fine." Fiver took the piece and ate it. "Can we go now?" he asked, mouth still full of food.

Hazel sighed, leading the way back to their group. "Give it a chance, Fiver."

"Isn't this great?" Blackberry exclaimed, noticing their return. "All the pizza we can eat, other kids to join us, and a place to spend the night!"

"I might just want to stay here!"Dandelion joined in.

"Yeah, this place is great!" Acorn grinned at them. "Who cares about the high hills? I'd prefer to stay here!"

The other two nodded eagerly.

Hazel was about to protest, when Cowslip stood up from a nearby table and called out, "Attention, all!" Immediately the group quieted down, turning to face Cowslip. "As I'm sure most of you have noticed, we have guests with us tonight!"

Everyone in the hall cheered. Cowslip waited a moment for them to settle, then continued. "I know you will make them feel very welcome here. And to our guests, our home, is your home. Now, enjoy your meals!"

As the boys went back to their meals, Cowslip approached the table Hazel's group was sitting at, followed by two teenagers, a stocky boy with red hair, green eyes hidden behind glasses, and freckles, and a girl of Asian heritage, her long dark hair tied up in a ponytail. "This is Strawberry and Nilda. They'll show you around the manor, and where to find everything you'll need."

"Why-" Hazel started to say, but Cowslip smoothly continued over him.

"It will be easier if you split up into two groups, seeing as there are such a lot of you, but I'll let you work that out for yourselves. For now, enjoy the pizza!"Cowslip went back to his table, leaving Strawberry and Nilda standing awkwardly by the table.

"So, um, you ready for the tour now? Or do you want to finish eating first?" Strawberry asked, pushing his glasses up his nose.

"Well, I've had enough for now," Hazel said, standing up. He looked around the table. "Anyone else ready for a tour?"

Fiver quickly got up as well and stood close beside Hazel. Pipkin and Blackberry also stood up. "I'd like to see more of this place, and I think I've had enough pizza for now," Blackberry said.

"Okay, then let's go!" Strawberry started walking out of the room.

Hazel hesitated, glancing over at the others who were still eating. Nilda, seeing the look, smiled at him. "I'll wait here and show your friends around. They'll still get a tour."

Hazel nodded, then hurried to catch up with Strawberry, Fiver staying close by his side.


	8. Chapter 8

Strawberry led them back to the entrance hall, then up the grand staircase. "This place is pretty big, so I can't show you everywhere," he explained. "I'll show you all the important stuff, though." Leading them down a hallway lined with doors, he continued, "This is where we all sleep. We each have our own room, and can decorate it any way we want to."

"How-" Blackberry started to ask.

"The bathroom's here, at the end of the hall," Strawberry said, talking over Blackberry. "There's a wing just like this on the other side. There's nearly thirty bedrooms here, so we always have plenty of room for guests." At the end of the hall he turned right into another hallway, then right again, to face a painting on the wall. "This was made by Haine, one of the kids who used to live here," he told them proudly.

The four examined the painting. "Isn't it just a lot of shapes?" Hazel asked.

Strawberry looked at them in surprise. "It's a person!" Seeing their lack of comprehension, he sighed. "It's modern art. Soon you'll realise that here we believe in expressing yourself in whatever manner you believe fits, and that traditions and culture are just society's way of trying to box you in! Everyone should express their art in whatever form they are called to. That's what Cowlsip says, anyway. I'm not much of an artist myself."

Hazel shrugged. "Okay. I'm not really an artist either. We just wanted something to eat, and maybe a place to stay the night."

"You can stay here."Strawberry looked down, like he was remembering something. "I came here just over a year ago. Cowslip welcomed me in, said I could stay as long as I wanted. So, I did."He looked up at them again and smiled. "It's really great here. Hardly any rules. You can get up whenever you want, go to sleep whenever you want, and there's always food to eat. Most of our food is delivered, but tomorrow, Nilda's going to make pancakes."

"Sounds good," Hazel told him. "Are you-?"

"We'd better get back to the hall now," Strawberry hastily interrupted. "It's getting later, and I think I've shown you all the important stuff." He started walking back towards the hall, Hazel and the others following, exchanging curious looks.

Just outside the hall, Fiver tugged on Hazel's sleeve. "Hazel, I still don't like it here. Can we please leave?"

"Fiver, we can't just leave," Hazel told his brother, valiantly resisting his pleading blue eyes. "This is a safe place, somewhere we can stay, and we could all do with the rest." Seeing Fiver still didn't look happy, he relented, "If you still feel bad in the morning, we can leave then, okay?"

Fiver crossed his arms. "That's what you said earlier about me eating."

Hazel winced. "I know, and I'm sorry. I know you don't like it here, Fiver, but we do need to eat and sleep, and it's better to do it here than out in the bush somewhere. I promise, if you still feel bad tomorrow, we will leave then."

Fiver still looked cross, but his stance loosened slightly. "Okay, Hazel, if you promise."

"I do. Fiver, I promise."

Fiver nodded, and they walked back into the hall, taking their seats next to Pipkin and Blackberry, the latter of whom was already chatting with one of the other boys.

Looking around, Hazel spotted Bigwig, Dandelion, Acorn, Silver and Nilda coming back into the room. He waved them over to the table. They came and sat down, Bigwig sitting down beside Hazel and slinging an arm over his shoulders. "This place is brilliant! They've got food, their own bedrooms, games, anything we could ever want!"

"Fiver doesn't like it, and I'm not sure I do either," Hazel said, glancing cautiously around the room. "For one thing, I'd like to know where all this food comes from. Pizza doesn't just drop out of the sky, yet they always seem to have everything they could ever want."

"Why don't you ask them?" Bigwig said sarcastically. "Go ahead, ask, "Cowslip, why-?"

"You noticed that too?" Hazel interrupted.

Bigwig scoffed. "Course I did. They never answer a question, won't even let you finish asking. Doesn't meant this is a bad place though, just a bit odd."

Hazel shook his head. "I'm still not too fond of it, and I trust Fiver. He really doesn't like it here." He glanced at Fiver, who was still sitting beside him, nearly tucked into his side, but was apparently ignoring the conversation entirely. "I promised him-"

"Attention, all!" The sound of Cowslip calling out broke Hazel away from what he was saying. "In honour of our guests tonight, Silverweed is going to play for us his newest composition." A cheer went up around the hall, as a boy, ten at most, stood up with a violin case in hand and made his way to the stage. Once he was up there, he brought the violin out of its case, held it to his chin, and started to play.

The sounds coming from the violin were haunting, instantly silencing the audience. Some began to cry, others just sat still in awe. The notes gave a feeling of deep sadness, an indescribable longing to be part of something bigger, and of devastation when there was only normality to return to.

Hazel was sitting at the table, in awe of Silverweed's skill, when he felt Fiver shaking beside him. "No, no, no, this is wrong!" he moaned.

Hazel put his hands on Fiver's shoulders. "Fiver, what's wrong, what is it?"

Fiver shook Hazel off, raising his hands to his ears as though trying to block out the music. "No, no!"Suddenly Fiver was off the chair and racing towards the door, pushing aside anyone in his way with surprising strength. Hazel ran after him, through the garden, and finally stopping beside a big tree, part of the forest that edged one side of the property. There he found Fiver, curled up in the gnarled roots of the tree, looking so forlorn that Hazel didn't have the heart to be angry with him.

"Fiver, are you alright?" he asked, kneeling beside his brother. "You got me really worried back there."

Fiver looked up at him, all innocent and afraid. "I'm sorry, Hazel, I didn't mean to worry you. It's just, that music-" He shuddered. "I really don't like it here, Hazel. Please, please, can we leave?"

Hazel sighed. "Fiver, we can't! We all need the rest, and the break from walking. I promised you we would leave tomorrow, and we will. Now, please, will you come back inside and get some sleep? I can even check that the music's finished, if you like."

Fiver shook his head. "No, I'm not coming back inside. I don't like it there, Hazel, I won't go back."

Hazel stood up. "Fine, Fiver. You don't have to go back inside, but I will. I want sleep, and I know I'd sleep a whole lot better in a bed than I would out here under a tree."

Hazel started walking away, then turned back to look at Fiver. "Are you sure you won't come inside?" Fiver nodded stubbornly. "Then good night, Fiver. Sleep well."

He met Bigwig at the doorway. "Not that he doesn't deserve it for the stunt he pulled, but are you really going to leave him out there alone?"

For a moment, they both looked back at the little figure under the big tree, then Hazel replied, "He won't stay out there for long. Fiver needs sleep as much of the rest of us, and I doubt he dislikes this place so much he won't even come in to sleep."

Bigwig shrugged. "He's your brother."He turned to go back inside, leaving Hazel staring out into the dark.

"I know. I just hope I'm right."

That night, when they were choosing bedrooms, Hazel was sure to pick one that was close to the front entrance, and also had a view of the tree Fiver was still curled up under. He stayed by that window, watching, waiting for the little figure under the tree to get up and start trudging back towards the house. The night got darker, the clock hands spun further, and Hazel's eyelids kept slipping, until finally, he fell asleep, curled up beside the big window, a near mirror of his little brother under the tree.


	9. Chapter 9

Hazel woke slowly, sore from a night spent curled up on the floor. For a moment he just lay there, wondering why he had chosen to sleep there, then he remembered. Sitting upright with a jolt, he turned to the window. _There was nobody under the tree._

Hazel raced outside, passing Bigwig in the hall. "I can't see Fiver!" Hazel called as he ran past, and he heard Bigwig's footsteps join him. They ran out to the tree where Fiver had been last night, both calling out for Fiver. He wasn't there.

"We've got to look for him," Hazel said, trying to ignore the guilty feeling that was screaming at him, telling him he should have been there for his brother. "Hopefully he hasn't gone far-"

"I'm just here, Hazel," Fiver said, stepping out from behind a tree. He held up a handful of berries. "I was hungry, so I looked for something to eat."

Hazel rushed over to his brother, crushing him in a hug. Then he stood back and scowled at him. "Why didn't you come inside last night?"

Fiver blinked up at him. "I told you, I don't like it there. Can we leave now?"

"No! I'm hungry too, and I want breakfast." Fiver held up the berries. "Fiver, that is not enough-" Hazel took a deep breath, then asked, "Fiver, will you please come inside and have a proper breakfast?"

"No, I'm not going back in there, not for anything."

"You ungrateful little scamp!" Bigwig burst out angrily, stepping closer to Fiver. "There's free food, a nice place to sleep, and you won't appreciate any of it! You should be grateful we didn't-"

"Bigwig, stop!" Hazel said firmly, getting in front of him. "He doesn't have to eat inside if he doesn't want to," turning to Fiver, "though I wish he would. Let's just go inside and get breakfast."

"Fine," Bigwig grumbled. He started to leave, then turned back to Fiver. "If it wasn't for your brother, I'd be dragging you back inside and keeping you there until you had a little more sense!" He started stomping back towards the house.

"I still wish you'd come inside, Fiver, but if you won't, I'll go eat breakfast and we'll leave after that." Hazel took a final look at his brother, then turned and walked after Bigwig.

The house was still quiet at that hour. There were a few kids eating in the hall, including Strawberry, looking mournfully into a bowl of cereal. Hazel and Bigwig prepared their own breakfasts, then sat down beside him. "Where's Nilda?" Hazel asked. "I thought she was going to be making pancakes."

"Nilda left this morning," Strawberry said, not meeting their eyes. "You'll have to make your own pancakes."

"She just left? Why wou-"

"It doesn't matter, she's gone." Strawberry interrupted, an edge to his voice. "She's gone, and she won't come back."

"Oh." Hazel subsided, and the boys continued eating in silence, with the rest of their group gradually trickling in to join them. When they were all finished eating, Hazel stood up and said, "Can you all come outside for a moment? We need to talk about something."

Leaving Strawberry at the table, Hazel led them all outside to the tree Fiver was still sitting under, then went to stand next to his brother. "Fiver and I are going to leave, to try and find his place in the high hills," he told them. "I know you all like it here, so I won't ask any of you to come with us. Those who do, however, would be welcome."

"This is ridiculous!" Bigwig shouted. "These kids have taken us in, offered us food and a place to stay, and you're going to give all that up because of him!" He pointed viciously at Fiver. "Well, count me out. You go off on your loony mission, but I'm staying here!" He stormed off into the surrounding trees.

Hazel turned to the others, to see if any of them echoed Bigwig's thoughts, when there was a crash, then a howl of pain, coming from the direction Bigwig had just stormed off in. They all took off running in that direction, then stopped short at the sight before them.


	10. Chapter 10

Bigwig was trapped in a pit in the ground, lying at the bottom of it with his ankle twisted awkwardly and blood coming from his head. For a moment, he didn't appear to be breathing, then he stirred, moaning and clutching his head with both hands.

"Bigwig!" Hazel called down to him. "Are you alright?"

"I'm okay, Hazel. Bit of a sore head, that's all." Bigwig took one hand away from his head long enough to gesture upwards at them, then went back to holding it tightly, as though his brains would fall out onto the ground if he stopped.

"Can you stand and climb out of there?"

Bigwig tried to get to his feet but his ankle gave way under him. Panting, he fell back to the ground. "I don't think standing is an option right now."

Hazel turned to the others. "Dandelion, Acorn, Pipkin, can you go back to the house and tell Coswlip what's happened? See if he has any shovels we can use. Silver, Blackberry, Fiver, we're going to start digging. Maybe we can dig out something like steps."

Dandelion, Acorn and Pipkin nodded and ran off, all three looking terrified, but the older two hiding it better. The others knelt down and started digging with their hands, getting dirt and bark under their fingernails, knowing they needed to get Bigwig out as quickly as possible. Fortunately, the ground was soft, and they had made some progress by the time Acorn, Dandelion and Pipkin returned.

Hazel glanced up at them, then took a longer look when he saw the state of them. Dandelion had a scratch on his cheek, Acorn had bruised knuckles, and all three were dirty and scuffed. Most significantly, none of them were carrying shovels. "Where are the shovels?"

"Cowslip," Acorn spat, "wouldn't give us any. He told us that we were interfering with things that were none of our business, and that we should just leave well enough alone." He motioned to Dandelion's scratch. "Then he decides to get his claws into Dan."

"And you decided to punch him back." Hazel shrugged, holding back his frustration. "Normally I'd have to yell at you now, but seeing as we don't have shovels, we need all hands for digging, and seeing he's the reason we don't have shovels, I can't say he didn't deserve it. You both okay?" They nodded. "Good, then get digging."

The three of them set to digging, while Hazel looked down into the pit to check on Bigwig. Suddenly he drew in a sharp breath. "Bigwig! Bigwig, you've got to stay awake!"

The others stopped digging and drew closer, looking into the pit to see what Hazel had seen: Bigwig, leaning against the side of the pit, eyes closed, and not responding to their shouts.

"Come on, we have to keep digging!"Hazel shouted, motioning them back to their work. "We'll get you out Bigwig, just wake up!"

They all resumed digging, scratching at the soft dirt with a fervour that had previously been absent. The ground gave way beneath their hands, until soon they had dug a slope into the side of the pit. Hazel slid down the incline, feet scrambling beneath him for something to grip, landing hard on the dirt floor of the pit. He knelt down beside Bigwig, holding his hand in front of Bigwig's mouth, hoping to feel a shallow breath of air. He felt nothing.

Slowly, he stood up, feeling numb. "I think we're too late."

A collected gasp came from the boys above. Like those words had been an unspoken signal, Silver and Fiver scrambled down into the pit, the other four remaining above as a silent guard. Silver hurried to Bigwig's side, while Fiver came over to his brother and stood beside him.

"He's gone," Hazel said distantly. At the top of the pit he could hear Pipkin crying and the other boys trying to comfort him. "Bigwig's gone. What will we do now? How did this even happen?" Was this my fault, for starting this journey to begin with?

"I'll tell you how it happened," Fiver said, looking pale, but with a bright glint of anger in his eyes. "I'll tell you a story. Once, there was a boy called Calvin. Calvin didn't like his home, so he left, ran away. He ran, and found a house, an old, barely used house, with lots of other kids living there. The plumbing didn't work, the house was a wreck, and there was never any food, because there was no one to pay for it.

"One day, a man came to the door. He told them he would pay for repairs, pay for water, pay for food, pay for anything they might need, but he would need something in return. He wanted children. His company wanted to perform human testing, and who would miss a few runaways? So Cowslip agreed." Fiver's voice lowered as his story drew to a close, the boys drawing closer to hear his final proclamation. "Anyone who stays at that house can have anything they would ever want, but someday, they will pay for it by being trapped like an animal and used as a human guinea pig."

"I'll kill him," came a low groan from the corner of the pit. The boys' heads snapped around, to see Bigwig, struggling to sit upright, blood still dripping from his head.

Still stunned from Fiver's story and Bigwig's sudden return to life, they all stood stock still, barely breathing. Then the moment broke, and Hazel and Fiver were kneeling by Bigwig's side, while Silver tore a strip off his shirt to hold to Bigwig's head.

"Bigwig!" Pipkin cried happily, practically falling down the side of the pit as he scrambled to get to Bigwig. He sat down beside the older boy, cuddling close. "I thought you'd died, like Mummy did."

Bigwig's expression softened. "I'm not dead, kiddo. I'm practically fine! Don't worry 'bout me."

"But what about your ankle?" Pipkin looked up at him with wide eyes.

"A twist, that's all. It'll hurt for a while, but it's nothing serious."

"In that case, try standing up again, Bigwig," Hazel suggested. "I don't think any of us want to stay here too long."

Bigwig gave a sharp nod, then looked at Pipkin. "You gotta get off me now, Pipkin. We're getting out of here."

Pipkin got up and moved to the side of the pit. As he passed Hazel, he whispered fearfully, "Bigwig is okay, isn't he?"

"Don't worry, Pipkin, Bigwig will be fine," Hazel replied, wishing he could feel more certain. He didn't have time to offer any more reassurances as he hurried to support Bigwig as he tried to stand.

Bigwig swayed forward for a moment, then caught his balance, shaking off the helping hands of Silver and Hazel. "I'm fine, now let's go. I've had enough of this pit."Nevertheless, Hazel and Silver stayed behind him as he climbed out of the pit, watching out in case he fell again.

"Are you sure you're alright, Bigwig?" Hazel asked. Receiving only a scoff in reply, he continued, "then we need to leave. I don't want to stay here any longer than we have to."

"Not before I kill Cowslip," Bigwig said menacingly, the blood staining the side of his head only adding to the effect.

"No, Bigwig, we need to leave," Hazel turned to look Bigwig in the eyes. "You are injured, we need to find somewhere safe we can stay. We can't stay here just for you to beat up Cowslip!"

Bigwig scowled mutinously. "Fine. Then let's get out of here." He turned sharply and started walking off in a westward direction.

Hazel sighed deeply and closed his eyes for a moment, grateful that there hadn't been any more argument. He opened his eyes and noticed the others still standing there. "What are you waiting for? Bigwig's already started off."

Dandelion raised an eyebrow at him. "No offense to Bigwig, but he's not the one we're following."

"You mean-" Hazel looked over at Fiver, only to see Fiver looking at him as well. "Oh." For a moment, he felt simultaneously humbled and proud, seeing the boys around him and realising they had chosen to follow him.

Bigwig broke the moment by calling out, "You coming? Or are you just going to stand around!"

"Coming!" Hazel called back. He took another look around at the group, then started after Bigwig, smiling.


	11. Chapter 11

They walked for the remainder of the day, Silver walking steadfastly beside Bigwig the entire way, ready to support him in case he needed a hand. Bigwig snarled at him, but Hazel noticed more than once Bigwig reaching a hand out to the other boy's shoulder.

Fiver seemed to have new energy after finally leaving what they had fondly dubbed 'Cowslip's House of Horrors', and was often running off, or pausing for a moment to smell the flowers before racing to catch up. At first, Pipkin joined him, but he quickly got tired, and instead attached himself to Bigwig's side, as if to make sure the older boy didn't suddenly disappear while he wasn't paying attention.

Dandelion, Acorn and Blackberry walked together, seeming still a bit shocked by how close it had been. Before long, however, Dandelion had lightened the mood with a story, and the three were smiling again, though still casting nervous looks at Bigwig from time to time.

Hazel led the group, walking by himself. He needed to think about what they could do next. As much as he wanted to believe Fiver was right, and there would be a wonderful place in the hills just waiting for them, he had his doubts. Even if this place existed, which it might not, who knows how long it might take to get there? They needed to find a safe place sooner rather than later.

Once it started getting dark, however, Hazel had to admit that even sooner wouldn't be soon enough for tonight. "Anybody see a good spot to sleep tonight?" he called out.

"Yep!" Acorn called back. He flopped to the ground. "Right here seems perfect to me."

Dandelion happily lay down beside him. "I concur. It's a nice night, let's just spend it outside."

"Not a good idea." Bigwig scowled at them. "It's right out in the open, anyone could see us."

"Would the police really still be looking for us? And so far from Sandelford?" Blackberry asked him sceptically. "I vote for staying here." He turned to Hazel. "What do you think, Hazel?"

Looking around at the group, it only took Hazel a moment to decide. "We're staying here tonight. Sorry, Bigwig, but everyone's tired, and I'm sure nobody wants to walk any further tonight when we can sleep in the open."

"Well, I want to!" Bigwig crossed his arms. "This isn't safe. Just because you don't see that, Hazel, doesn't mean I shouldn't keep going, and find a safer place to spend the night."

"Me too!" Pipkin piped up, rubbing his eyes sleepily. "I'll keep walking with you, Bigwig! Only, I'm just so-" A yawn cut him off, and he sat down on the ground. "But I'll keep going, I can! I'm just-" Another yawn, then a final mumble of "really sleepy," and Pipkin was curled up on the ground, asleep.

Bigwig sighed, then smiled, reaching down to ruffle Pipkin's hair, careful not to wake him. "That's okay, kid. I'll stay too." He lay down on the grass beside the younger boy and drifted off to sleep, still smiling.

"He must have been more tired than he seemed," Hazel murmured to Blackberry, looking down at the two boys.

"Yeah, he didn't even set anyone on watch," Blackberry murmured back. "Should we be worried?"

The question had been asked jokingly, but Hazel took it seriously. "Maybe, but there's nothing we can do about it here. Go to sleep, Blackberry. It's been a long day."

Blackberry nodded, and headed back towards Dandelion and Acorn, who were looking up at the stars and chatting quietly. Hazel watched him go, then turned to try and find Fiver. As they weren't that big a group, it wasn't hard to find him, sitting beneath the stars, face filled with wonder. "Aren't they beautiful?" Fiver asked in awe, not turning around.

"I guess so, but Fiver, I need to talk to you." Hazel didn't even spare a moment to look at the stars, too caught up with worry.

Fiver tugged his sleeve. "Sit down, Hazel. You're worrying too much."

"So you aren't having any feelings about this place?"

Fiver looked up at his brother, crossing his arms, "No, I'm not having feelings about this place, but I don't have feelings about everything that happens, so it doesn't matter anyway. Now will you sit down and watch the stars with me?"

Hazel sighed, then sat down on the grass beside his brother. Fiver smiled at him, immediately switching position so his head was in Hazel's lap. "Hey, I didn't sit down to be used as a pillow!" Hazel halfheartedly protested.

Fiver just snuggled further into Hazel's side, his eyes dropping shut. "Don't care. You're comfy."

Hazel sighed again in mock exasperation, then smiled. Carefully, he lay back, making sure not to jostle Fiver too much, and looked up at the stars. Fiver was right, they really were lovely tonight. Surely he could spend just a moment to look at them. Not too long, just - just a - moment... Before Hazel knew it, he was asleep.


	12. Chapter 12

"Hazel!" A voice was hissing in his ear. "Hazel, wake up!"

Hazel blearily opened his eyes. At first he didn't register what he was seeing, but once he did, he came wide awake. "Dandelion, what is that?"

"I think it's a rabid dog, Hazel. I don't know what to do!" Dandelion looked at Hazel, panic in his eyes.

"It'll be okay, just calm down," Hazel tried to reassure him. "Wake up Silver, then the others. We need to get out of here, now, before it notices us."

Dandelion nodded, looking fearfully back at the dog, then moved over to the others, starting to wake them up.

"What's going on?"Bigwig asked, as he propped himself up on his elbows.

"A rabid dog," Hazel answered shortly. "He hasn't come too close yet, but he's going to catch our scent soon, and we can't outrun him."

"I'll fend him off." Bigwig started to get to his feet, wobbling back and forth, but Hazel waved him back down.

"You're still injured. Silver and Acorn, can you try and frighten him off while we make a run for it?"

They nodded, but Bigwig interrupted. "That's ridiculous! I can fight just as well as either of them!"

Hazel turned to face him fully. "Bigwig, you are wavering on your feet right now. If you fought right now, it would put us all in danger. Please, just let Silver and Acorn do it. We need you with us, to help us get away."

Bigwig scowled, but agreed. "Fine, but just this once. Next time, I'm fighting, no matter what you have to say."

Hazel nodded his thanks, then looked around their little camp. "Pipkin's not awake yet. Could somebody wake him up? We need to go."

"Nah, don't bother." Bigwig looked fondly down on the sleeping boy, then knelt down to pick him up. Moving the smaller boy until he was riding piggyback on him, Bigwig continued, "I'll just carry him. It'll be easier."

Hazel eyed him sceptically for a moment, but continued."Okay, then it looks like everyone's ready, so we'll get out of here. Silver, Acorn, meet us in the woods once the dog's gone, could you?" He gestured to the woods some distance away, and they nodded their acknowledgement. "Alright, then let's go."

The six headed off, Blackberry and Dandelion giving Acorn a clap on the back as they went by, and Bigwig stopping for a few moments to have a quiet discussion with Silver. Hazel just kept walking, trying to ignore the nagging feeling that if he had only decided to keep walking last night and find a safer spot, none of this would have happened.

"Hazel!"

Hazel blinked, then looked around to see Fiver nearly running along beside him. "What is it, Fiver?"

"Could you slow down?" Fiver panted

Hazel slowed down, realising that, lost in thought, he had been walking rather faster than his little brother could keep up with. "Sorry, Fiver. I didn't notice I'd been walking so fast."

"I know, Hazel."

They walked on a bit further in silence, then stopped. By that time they were deep into the forest, moonlight filtering down past the tree branches. The group gathered close, instinctively huddling together as protection against the unknown all around them.

"We should have gone far enough now," Hazel said confidently. "Now we just need to wait for Acorn and Silver to catch up."

A minute passed, and then two more. Silver and Acorn were still not in sight. Dandelion and Blackberry started fidgeting. Finally, Dandelion burst out, "What's taking them so long?"

"They are trying to be a distraction for the rest of us, that's what," Bigwig said, low voice filled with contempt, looking menacing despite Pipkin still sleeping on his shoulders. "They'll get here as soon as they can, and you can just wait quietly like the rest of us."

"Can you sense anything wrong, Fiver?" Hazel quietly asked, ignoring the argument still continuing.

Fiver shook his head. "Nothing feels wrong, but I couldn't tell when the dog came either. I don't know, Hazel." He looked up at his brother helplessly.

Hazel put one arm around his little brother's shoulders. "Never mind, Fiver. They're probably fine." He addressed the rest of the group. "Dandelion, Acorn and Silver will be here soon, you just need to be patient. Bigwig, Dandelion's just worried about them, leave him alone. Now, would you stop fighting?"Dandelion and Bigwig muttered angrily, but subsided. "Thank you," Hazel continued. "Look, if they aren't back soon, we can go look for them, but for-"

"I can see something!" Blackberry suddenly shouted. As everyone eagerly turned to look, Blackberry pointed at some indistinct figures just visible through the trees. Delight turned to shock when the figures came closer, and it became apparent there were three, not two, shadows approaching them.

"Everybody, up a tree, now," Hazel said, his voice quiet but no less commanding for that. They all scrambled into the surrounding trees, Bigwig helping Pipkin, who was still half asleep. They waited anxiously as the figures came closer, nobody daring to move.

Finally, the shadowy figures passed through a patch of moonlight, revealing themselves as Acorn, Silver, and -

"Strawberry?" Bigwig said incredulously.

Three heads snapped around. "Where are you guys?" Acorn called out, sounding exasperated.

"We're here."Hazel climbed down from his tree. "We weren't expecting three of you."

Bigwig dropped to the ground beside him, taking up a defensive posture. "What's Strawberry doing here? Hasn't he caused enough trouble?" Receiving no answer, he turned to Strawberry, snarling, "Haven't you caused enough trouble? You and your friends nearly got me killed, and now you're coming after us? What, you haven't done enough already?"

"No, it's not like that!" Strawberry looked terrified. "I ran away from there, I didn't want to be there anymore! I wanted to go with you, but I was too scared, and I didn't know what to do! But, then, they, they took Nilda!"

"Nilda, the girl who showed us around? The one who was going to make pancakes?" Blackberry asked, still up his tree.

Strawberry nodded fervently. "She was my best friend, but the morning you left, I couldn't find her. Cowslip told me to forget about it, that everyone leaves eventually, and I should ignore it, but I couldn't! She was my friend!" He stopped for a moment to gather himself, then continued more calmly. "I didn't want to stay there anymore after that, and I thought maybe I could go with you guys instead. I figured, even if something horrible happened to me and I died, at least I wouldn't have to see anymore of my friends disappear." He looked down at the ground, seeming to remember all of the friends who had disappeared while he had been living at Cowslip's house of horrors.

Hazel felt sorry for him. "You can stay with us," he said. Ignoring Bigwig's glare, he continued, "We'll be happy to take you with us, though we don't know quite where we are going."

"Yeah, that's an understatement," Bigwig scoffed under his breath.

"Alright, everyone come down from the trees," Hazel called up at them."We can sleep here for the rest of the night, and keep going in the morning."

They all descended from the benches they had been clinging to. Pipkin had fallen asleep again while waiting, and Bigwig had to climb up and bring him down. Finally, they had all reached the ground.

For a moment, they just stood around, looking at each other. After the tension and excitement of the last few hours, no one was quite sure what to do. Suddenly, Fiver yawned, soon followed by the rest of the group. "Sleep now, Hazel?"he asked, eyelids beginning to slide shut.

Hazel nodded, eyes watering from the force of his own yawn. "Yeah, sleep now." They all settled down, leaning against trees and on branches to make themselves comfortable.


	13. Chapter 13

The next morning, Hazel was woken by the sun shining directly into his eyes. Half asleep, he raised a hand to try and block it out, then suddenly came wide awake as he remembered where they were. Looking quickly round the little group, he breathed a sigh of relief as he saw that they were all there, safe and soundly asleep, which quickly turned to worry as he realised how late it had gotten. Standing up, sore from the night spent leaning against a tree, he shouted, "Everybody wake up! We need to get going, it's already midmorning."

Groaning and mumbling, they all eventually got to their feet, pulling leaves out of their hair, and stretching out sore limbs.

"How could it be morning already?" Acorn mumbled, brushing sleepily at the grass on his clothes. "I'm sure I only just lay down."

Dandelion chuckled, slightly more awake than his friend. "Look up, man. I don't think that's the moon up there."

"No, and it's a lot higher than it should be," Bigwig's voice growled from behind them, startling them both. "Why didn't you wake us earlier, Hazel? We should have left by now."

"I only just woke up, Bigwig," Hazel snapped at him. He sighed, trying to calm down. "I know we should have woken up earlier, but it's too late to do anything about it now, so let's just get going."

Grumblingly, they got to their feet and started walking yet again, heading, as ever, towards the west, hoping this might be the day they find Fiver's mystical house in the hills.

As they journeyed, Hazel dropped back to walk beside his brother. "Are we getting any closer, Fiver?"

Fiver closed his eyes for a moment, concentrating, then shook his head. "I think we are getting closer, but I don't know how much." He looked contrite. "Sorry, Hazel."

Hazel sighed, then forced a smile for his brother's sake. "That's okay, Fiver. We've made it this far, we can keep going. I'm sure we'll find this place eventually." On this inside, he was less sure.

Once again, they were walking through the country, with no food, no water, and no clear destination. Fortunately, it seemed that Bigwig had mostly recovered overnight, with only a cut and the occasional stumble to show that he wasn't quite alright yet.

The sun had long since set, and the moon was starting to rise, when they finally saw a building. As tired as they were, they barely noticed it when the rough bush they had been walking through turned to grass. It was only when they heard the crunch of gravel under their feet that the boys stopped walking and looked down, curious.

Slowly, Hazel raised his head from the ground, and saw in front of him a gravel path leading to a huge mansion. The gates in front of the building were open, the chain that had kept them closed having fallen apart a long time ago with no one bothering to replace it, and the curtains were closed. The house looked abandoned, moonlight shining off the darkened windows. The boys looked at each other, sharing their nervous feeling.

Fiver was the first to speak. "This is it."

Hazel went over to his brother, leaning down to look him in the eyes. "Are you sure, Fiver? We'll be safe here?"

Fiver nodded, looking scared, but also strangely at peace. "This is it, Hazel. This is the place. We can be safe here."

Hazel stopped for a moment, then nodded. "Okay, Fiver. If you say this is it, then this is it."

"Yeah, and even if it isn't," Blackberry cheerfully interjected, "if this place is as abandoned as it looks, no one will be looking for us here."

A few smiles, then the whole group turned to look at Hazel. Hazel took a deep breath, wiping his sweaty palms against his pants, then walked forward. At the door, he looked back. They were all still watching him, expressions varying between anticipation and anxiety.

He tried the door handle, and it opened. "It's open!" he whispered, just loud enough for it to carry across the yard. For some reason, he didn't want to be too loud here. The other boys seemed to have heard him, though, and cautiously approached.

"Of course it's open!" Dandelion said with a nervous smile. "This is an abandoned house, who would bother to lock the door?" Still, no one seemed to be willing to go inside.

Realising that it had fallen upon him, once again, to lead the way, Hazel pushed the door open and walked into the darkened house. "Let's just come inside, and see if there is anywhere we can sleep tonight. I don't into about you, but I'm tired."

Now that Hazel had entered, the house didn't seem to hold the same eerieness, and therefore exhaustion was once again at the forefront of their minds. "Can't we just sleep here?" Pipkin asked in a whisper.

"Best not," Bigwig answered. "If anyone does come across this place, we'd be better off being somewhere less noticeable."

Pipkin nodded glumly. "Okay, Bigwig."

"So, where can we sleep, then?" Acorn asked.

"Maybe there's another room further in?" Blackberry suggested.

Hazel nodded wearily. "It's worth a try."

As it turned out, there was another room further into the house, the hallway leading to it half hidden by a huge bookcase, crammed full with dusty books. The room was big enough for all the boys to lie down, so they did, settling down and quickly drifting off to sleep.

The smell of frying bacon greeted Hazel when he woke the next morning. For a moment he lay there, just enjoying the scent, before he remembered where they were and shot upright, his eyes snapping open. This house should be abandoned. He shouldn't be able to smell bacon frying, there shouldn't be any smells except dust and mould.

He shook Fiver's shoulder, trying to wake him. "Fiver!"he hissed quietly. Fiver mumbled inaudibly in reply. "Fiver, you've got to wake up. There's people here! I thought you said this place would be safe!"

"Safe here...people...good," Fiver mumbled, eyes still closed. He rolled over and went back to sleep. Hazel let him, knowing he was unlikely to get anything clearer out of his brother.

Instead, Hazel got up and went over to the doorway. From the door's awkward positioning, he couldn't see much, but he could see that the house wasn't as abandoned as it had looked last night. The floors were clean, the bookshelves free of dust, and from somewhere further in the house came the soft sound of humming.

"They must not have noticed us come in last night," Blackberry said from behind Hazel, startling him. Blackberry didn't notice, continuing, "All the lights were off, so I guess they must have been in bed."

"How did they not notice us coming in last night?" Hazel asks, turning away from the doorway to look fully at Blackberry.

"I don't know. Maybe they're just really heavy sleepers?" Blackberry said doubtfully.

"My room is at the back of the house, up the stairs, actually. It's rather difficult to hear the door from there."


	14. Chapter 14

Both boys jumped at the new voice, turning quickly to see a man standing in the doorway, looking at them with a slight smile on his face, as though he knew exactly who they were and why they were there. He looked to be in his early fifties, with dark hair just starting to grey at the temples.

Blackberry, recovering from the shock first, asked, "You live here?"

The man's smile widened. "'Here' is Watership Down, and yes, I live here, and have for many years, though I can tell you, this is the first time anything like this has happened."

"Sorry, sir," Hazel said, as politely as he could under the circumstances. "We didn't know. We'll be gone as soon as we can, we didn't mean to disturb you."

"We thought the house was abandoned," Pipkin suddenly said, once again causing Hazel to start.

The man in front of them didn't seem to have expected that either, his eyes widening as he took in the little boy. "Another one? How many of you are there?"

"There's nine of us, but we didn't start out with nine of us," Pipkin said cheerily. "Strawberry came later. After Bigwig got hurt." Pipkin's lip wobbled for a moment, thinking about those few terrifying moments, then he brightened. "But Bigwig's okay now, and we even all escaped from the dog! That was exciting."

The man's eyebrows raised. "I think this story will need a lot more explanation. Perhaps you could stay for breakfast?"

In the face of Pipkin's imploring look, Hazel had no choice but to agree. Breaking the news to the other, however, was more difficult.

"Let me get this straight," Bigwig said, pacing back and forth."We snuck into this man's house last night, he found us here this morning, Pipkin told him some stories about what we've been up to, and now he wants us to stay for breakfast? That doesn't make sense, Hazel. Last place we stayed for breakfast, we barely escaped alive. I'm not doing that again."

"This place is different," Fiver said, softly but firmly. "There are no bones, no wires holding us in place. We can be safe here."

"If Fiver says we'll be safe here, I believe him," Hazel decided. "We'll stay for breakfast, and if we have to, we can leave straight after that." Bigwig grudgingly agreed, and the group followed the three of them back out into the entrance way.

The man was standing out there, his eyebrows gradually rising as each new boy trooped out of the room. "Well, I'll be," he said quietly, before continuing more loudly, "It's nice to meet you boys, even under such strange circumstances. You can call me Mr Frith. You've decided on whether to join me for breakfast, I hope?"

Hazel nodded. "Yes, thank you-"

"Good, the dining room is this way," Mr Frith interrupted. "There is no need to thank me, I'm glad to have guests, though usually I don't find them in my back room. I do hope you will tell me how that happened. However, that can wait until after you have eaten."

As they walked, they had made their way into the dining room, where a dazzling array of food lay spread out, everything from creepy bacon, to think sausages, to slices of buttery toast. To nine hungry boys, it looked like Heaven, and Mr Frith chuckled at the expressions of delight on their faces. "Go ahead, eat your fill. When you are finished, you can tell me how you ended up here."

The boys dug in greedily, devouring all the food on offer, and everything that came afterwards as well. When the boys had finally pushed away their plates, clean of anything remotely resembling food, Mr Frith spoke. "Now, boys, do you think you could tell me why you arrived at my house in the middle of the night last night?"

Seeing the nods the other boys gave him, Hazel took a deep breath and started talking. "Well, sir, it started when Fiver had a dream." Hazel, with some interruptions from the other boys, told Mr Frith everything, starting from the night of Fiver's vision, all that had happened at the House of Horrors, right up until they had snuck into Mr Frith's house the night before.

Mr Frith said not a word through the entire story, just listened intently to what Hazel had to say. At the end of the tale, he sat back in his chair, his gaze roaming over the boys. The boys glanced at each other nervously, wondering what he would do now that he knew their whole story. Finally, he let out a deep breath. "You boys have certainly had quite an adventure. I suppose the question is, do you plan to continue it?"

"We can leave right now if you want us to, sir." Hazel rose to his feet, glancing at the others to do likewise.

Mr Frith waved them back to their seats. "Please, sit down. I did not mean to imply you should leave. In fact, I rather like the company."

"Then what do you mean?" Bigwig asked suspiciously.

"He wants us to stay," Fiver said, looking Hazel in the eyes. "He likes us, he wants us to stay here, and we have nowhere else to go."

"We could find somewhere," Bigwig protested with false confidence. "If we needed to, we could easily find a place to live, without any help from you." He glared at Mr Frith.

"I'm sure you could, if you needed to," Mr Frith agreed, "but you don't need to." He threw his arms out to gesture at the house. "This is a huge house, with many bedrooms, too much for me now. I would love nothing more than for me to have someone to share it with again."

Hazel looked slowly between the three of them, Fiver, Bigwig, and Mr Frith. "Mr Frith, thank you for your generosity. We'll stay here with you." As a beaming smile broke out over the man's face, Hazel sent a look to Bigwig, telling him he could argue about it later.


	15. Chapter 15

'Later' turned out to be in fifteen minutes, when Bigwig's scowl became so pronounced, Hazel gestured for him and Fiver to come with him into the room they had slept in the night before. As soon as they were through the doorway, Bigwig stopped and glared at Hazel. "We shouldn't stay here, Hazel! We don't know anything about this man!"

"Fiver trusts him," Hazel said simply. Seeing that Bigwig required more explanation, Hazel rubbed a hand over his eyes. "Fiver didn't like Cowslip, and knew before any of us it wasn't safe there. Here, Fiver says is safe."

"Here is safe," Fiver told them. "Mr Frith won't hurt us, and nobody will find us. We can be safe here."

"And if he's wrong?" Bigwig said, ignoring Fiver.

"Then we'll leave."

Bigwig studied Hazel's face, then nodded, apparently satisfied, and headed back to the dining room. "Alright. I guess this isn't the worst place we could be staying, if we have to stay somewhere. The food's not half bad, at least."

As they entered the dining room again, Mr Frith caught Hazel's eye and nodded at him, seeming to understand that things were resolved, at least for now.

After breakfast, Mr Frith left them to do whatever they wanted, while he retreated upstairs to his rooms. None of the boys asked what he was doing, and he didn't volunteer the information. Instead, the boys all went out to the field of the back of the house, discovering a badly rusted swing set.

"What I don't get," Acorn said, standing on one of the swings and pushing himself back and forth, "is why he cares. Why should he want us to stay here? We broke into his house!"

"It wasn't really breaking in," Dandelion justified. "The door was open, so it's not like we smashed a window or something."

Acorn snorted. "Doubt the police would see it that way."

Pipkin looked up from the other swing in alarm. "Police?"

"There aren't any police here, Pipkin, it's alright." Hazel came over to the swing to hug Pipkin, glaring at Acorn over the little boy's shoulder. "Acorn was just joking."

"Yeah, it was just a joke, Pipkin. Don't worry about it, there aren't any police coming for us," Acorn said, looking ashamed. Pipkin nodded a bit hesitantly, then relaxed as Hazel started to push the swing.

"He has a point, though," Bigwig said, low enough that Pipkin couldn't hear. "If he calls the police, we're all in trouble. We're runaways, remember?"

"I know, Bigwig, but Fiver said we'll be safe here." Hazel kept pushing the swing, not looking at Bigwig. He'd been thinking along those lines already, but was determined to trust his brother, after the disasterous events of last time he doubted Fiver.

"Look, I know he was right last time, I know that better than anybody, but he's still just seven years old!" Realising how loud his voice was getting, Bigwig continued more softly, "He's just a little kid, Hazel. He can't be right all the time.

"Aren't we all just kids?" Hazel asked, this time ignoring the swing as it flew towards him. "We're all kids, Bigwig-"

"I'm not a kid, I'm fourteen-!" Bigwig tried to interrupt, but Hazel continued over him.

"We are all kids, and we can't do this on our own! We can't keep running forever, we're going to have to stop somewhere, so why not here? Fiver says this place is safe, and I for one haven't seen anything to say it isn't. So why shouldn't we stay here?" As Hazel finished in a shout, he noticed that quiet that had come over the yard. The swing had stopped moving, and all the boys were watching him and Bigwig.

"I want to stay," a quiet voice came. Strawberry lifted his head up. "I know I only joined you guys last night, so my vote doesn't count for much, but I want to stay here. I like it here, and I like Mr Frith, and I don't want to keep running, with nowhere to go."

"Me too! Pipkin piped up, breaking the tension that had fallen at Strawberry's words. "I like Mr Frith, he's nice!"

"If Hazel is staying here, I'm staying here," Acorn said brashly. "Whatever Fiver says about it, this place is the best place we've found, and like Strawberry said, we've got to stop somewhere."

"I vote for staying," Blackberry seconded.

Dandelion shrugged. "I'll stay with you guys. Fiver's staying, Hazel's staying, you're all staying, I might as well stay too. It's a nice place."

Bigwig looked over at Silver. "You staying too?" Silver nodded. Bigwig sighed in frustration. "Guess we're all staying then. I still think this is crazy, but I'm not going to leave you guys alone." Seeing the smiles beginning to light up the other boys faces, he held his hands up in protest, saying, "Don't think this is all sentimental or something. I just know if, or more likely when, this goes bad, you'll need my help to get out of it."

Hazel grinned at him. "Good to know we'll have you to rely on in our inevitable trouble, then!" Laughing and smiling, the boys made their way back inside, to their new home at Watership Down.


End file.
